Delivery of large quantities of continuous real-time data from a transmitter to a receiver is a complex problem. The data stream may be compressed and transmitted over one or more concurrently connected networks before arriving at a server where the operation is reversed, and the data stream recreated.
The problem is particularly challenging when the data stream requires a high data rate such as when the data stream is a high quality (e.g., broadcast quality) video stream.
The problem is also particularly challenging when the one or more connected networks include wireless links, as required, for example when the transmitter is a mobile transmitter.
In particular, existing wireless technologies such as satellite or microwave fixed link may return a (live) video stream to a studio, but may have shortcomings. For example, satellite or microwave fixed link may take extra time to set up, may be expensive, and once set up may have reduced mobility. These solutions may have dedicated channels and a fixed bandwidth that prevents stream failure; however, sporadic drop-outs due to weather/catastrophic failure are still possible, but may be infrequent.
Cellular networks are possible alternatives to satellite or microwave networks for sending data from a mobile transmitter. Cellular networks have broad coverage and are relatively inexpensive to access. However, cellular networks may have lower bandwidth, and may be prone to transmission errors, lag due to resource contention, signal fading and increased interference while moving.
Wi-Fi networks may provide higher bandwidth connections. However, Wi-Fi networks often have limited range and coverage, and may not be readily available to a mobile transmitter. Wi-Fi networks are also subject to interference.
Even when the networks are rated to transmit data at the bit rates required for real-time transmission of the data stream, maintaining the required bit rates is difficult. Available bandwidth may be reduced by many uncontrollable factors, such as physical objects causing interference, the weather, the contention that occurs when multiple devices share the same limited network resources, and so on. Such factors reducing available bandwidth may be unavoidable even when wired links (e.g., wired Ethernet) are used. Fluctuations in available bandwidth may cause concomitant fluctuations in transmission bit rates, and which may make it difficult to reliably transmit high quality audio and video data streams in real time.